The screening of Digitalis ferruginea L. subsp. ferruginea for toxic capacities, phenolic constituents, antioxidant properties, mineral elements and proximate analysis

Abstract

The present study outlines the antioxidant and toxic activity, total phenol, flavonoid and tannin content of Digitalis ferruginea's extracts in addition to evaluating its proximate parameters and mineral elements. Successive extraction was made using different solvents (ethanol, acetone, water). Total phenol content was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu's reagent method and flavonoid was determined by the aluminum chloride colorimetric method. The antioxidant activities were investigated using different assays. The phenolics were determined using HPLC. In addition an evaluation was made of the proximate parameters and mineral elements. The radical scavenging capacities were highest in the water extract. The same extract was effective in total antioxidant activities (β-carotene, 83.75%). The acetone extract demonstrated stronger reducing power and phosphomolybdenum antioxidant activity with 0.52 mg/mL and, 107.43 µg/mg, respectively. The HPLC results determined major phenolics: rutin and ferulic acid. This plant also have rich in polyphenolic content together with toxic activity and possesses nutrients and mineral elements. As well as demonstrating the good antioxidant activity of D. ferruginea this study suggest that the plant could be of particular interest from a practical perspective, as it is a significant source of potential natural antioxidants that can be used for the prevention of a range of diseases.

Variation in the chemical profiles of three foxglove species in the central Balkans

“…The results indicate that the most abundant phenolic acids of D. grandiflora belong to the group of hydroxybenzoic acids (protocatechuic, syringic, and p -hydroxybenzoic acid), while p -coumaric acid predominates among hydrohycinnamic acids ( Gašić et al, 2023 ). Dominant phenolic acids in D. lanata and D. ferruginea are p -coumaric acid and p -hydroxybenzoic acid ( Gašić et al, 2023 ), which slightly coincides with previous findings, reporting chlorogenic and caffeic acids ( Katanić et al., 2017 ) or ferulic acid ( Kaska et al., 2020 ) as the most abundant in D. ferruginea . Hispidulin and other flavonoids belonging to the flavone and 3-methoxyflavone groups are especially abundant in Digitalis species ( Kaska et al., 2020 ), which is also confirmed in the present study.…”

“…Dominant phenolic acids in D. lanata and D. ferruginea are p -coumaric acid and p -hydroxybenzoic acid ( Gašić et al, 2023 ), which slightly coincides with previous findings, reporting chlorogenic and caffeic acids ( Katanić et al., 2017 ) or ferulic acid ( Kaska et al., 2020 ) as the most abundant in D. ferruginea . Hispidulin and other flavonoids belonging to the flavone and 3-methoxyflavone groups are especially abundant in Digitalis species ( Kaska et al., 2020 ), which is also confirmed in the present study. Naringin, luteolin, and hispidulin are the most abundant flavonoids in D. grandiflora ( Gašić et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Among these, D. lanata is somewhat better studied in terms of genetic and phenetic diversity and by its potential to accumulate various specialized metabolites ( Braga et al., 1997 ; Yücesan et al., 2018 ). Few data are available for the other species listed ( Kennedy, 1978 ; Katanić et al., 2017 ; Kaska et al., 2020 ). Surprisingly, variation in metabolite fingerprints both between and within wild populations is pretty much neglected, having in mind that it can render starting material for selective breeding or at least for the selection of specific genotypes that would accumulate metabolite amounts appropriate for the pharmaceutical industry.…”

Chemical constituents and nutritional health functions of Dendrobium nobile: a review

“…Phenolic acids are aromatic carboxylic acid compounds with multiple phenolic hydroxyl substitutions on a benzene ring, which are widely distributed in nature, especially in some common Chinese medicines, and exist mainly in the form of various esters and organic acids, rarely in free form (Kaska et al, 2021;Luo et al, 2022). The phenolic acids in D. nobile have numerous pharmacological activities.…”

Preparation, characterization and antioxidant activity of polysaccharides copper from Qingzhuan dark tea

“…In this study, the structure and physical properties of TPS-Cu were characterized by high performance gel filtration chromatography, atomic absorption spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic mechanics microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) (Wang et al, 2021). Additionally, a series of in vitro experiments was measured to the antioxidant activity of the TPS-Cu complex (Kaska et al, 2021).…”